On July 30, 210, a seven man crew from the legendary BBC arrived a in Alleghany for its upcoming production about the effects of a super nova on heavy metals, especially gold. They came to the right place. The documentary is scheduled for showing around February , 2011. It was an interesting long day for me, as I ushered two separate crews around the underground workings as well as watching a sit down interview with the “face” for the English show. He is a bright physicist with a background in super nova theory. His understanding of our unusual gold deposit was lacking but over the course of filming, I expect to see and hear good results after final editing.

The other production crew (3 members) asked me to participate in an interview. No problem. The history of gold mining in California, humanity’s interest in gold for over 6000 years, this rare and special land called the Alleghany Mining District and the present and future of the mine and community are intelligently challenging. The camera and microphones have unforgiving memories, however so words must be thoughtfully spoken. Unknown editors far away will broadcast ones actions. Ninety percent of the filming falls on the editors’ floor.

One question put my brain in swirling motion. I knew that editors like solid and brief sound bites. Rambling would not do. “What is special about the Sixteen to One?” I started with the obvious: the high concentration of gold by weight in quartz. The Sixteen to One may not lead this category, but I know of none comparable outside Alleghany. We have historical maps, data and contemporary figures to lay a claim to lead the list.

My part of the program is scheduled for the “world market”, which includes the USA. Translators will dub over all conversations in other languages. Additional reasons for the Sixteen to One to be special (remember this is the interview’s question put to me) were: its long history of operation, the qualities of the quartz and gold, its accessibility, the old fashion or traditional method of mining. I missed others that may exist.

The list should be longer. Please help me out when the next interviewer asks, “What is so special about the Sixteen to One?” I’ll save your reasons and learn more about a subject dear to my heart.

By
Michael Miller

06/13/2010 6:16PM

September 2003
President George W. Bush
Washington D.C.

Dear Mr. President,

Sorry to bother you with this issue; however, since you know the Sixteen to One mine and expressed well wishes for its good fortune, I bring this to your attention. This is more of a heads up so your advisors become familiar with one fight Americans have in states with significant federal land. Letters will be sent to various levels of federal agencies connected with the Tahoe National Forest. I hope you assign someone below you in the chain of command to take an interest in this topic. We call it rural cleansing. It is the destruction of the cultural and heritage of those living and working beyond the cities.

I was impressed by your personal response to me on November 14, 2000, which is a treasured letter I have shared with non-believers. Even my friends were in awe that you would answer my letter during a time when America’s business and yours were so chaotic. As Presidents, you and I likely share the approach to our jobs about the importance of knowing what goes on in the trenches of our areas of responsibilities.

The following letter will be directed to Departments that oversee the Supervisor in charge of the Federal Tahoe National Forest in northern California. Politically, it is possible that your policies have not reached the career administrators, such as Steve Eubanks. I believe those in the field are following stale policies and direction from past representatives in Washington. Their implementations are not yours. Those, especially at the Director level, may be uninformed or intentionally conducting work that agrees with their personal beliefs. One example is Mr. Eubanks, who is disregarding the federal policy of multiple uses on federal lands. Everyone in the United Stated will suffer eventually as he turns the federal land into a single use, recreation.

To whom it may concern:
On September 2, 2003, I presented a claim for damages to the director of the Tahoe National Forest, Steve Eubanks. It was during a public meeting of the Sierra County Board of Supervisors. Mr. Eubanks took the claim from my hand but elected to disregard it and left it in the boardroom. While his actions create additional problems for the hard rock, underground gold miners, they provide the public as well as his supervisors a picture of how he carries forth his duties as Director of the public lands within his jurisdiction. There are no justifications for his arrogant and childish behavior. I request the following:
1. An investigation of his conduct in office with appropriate reprimands if deserved.
2. An explanation of the status of my claim for damages. Will my statutory time of notice begin on September 2 2003?
3. The Department of Agriculture’s directives in implementing the multiple use laws in California and particularly in the Tahoe National Forest.
4. The name, address and title of the most appropriate person for me to work with to:
a. Bring to light the misconduct of Mr. Eubanks,
b. The misappropriation of private property in Sierra County, California,
c. Possible violations in the Antiquities Act, Best Management Practices in environmental activities, overt actions in conflict with the local General Plan, misappropriations of funds and personnel and others.

A cursory examination of Mr. Eubanks’ leadership over the past five years that I and other residents of Sierra County, Plumas County and Nevada County are all too familiar with may not reveal the actual human and physical damage he has caused. The lives and livelihood of rural life in the areas surrounded by the Tahoe National Forest are in jeopardy due to his continuing disrespect for the law. Mr. Eubanks has stated that his crew “is consistent in how we approach the issues.” This is a good policy as long as ones approach is environmentally, socially and legally in the right. An impartial investigation from the highest level of our federal government’s executive branch will be greatly appreciated. The legislators are not the problem this time. The laws are not being followed by those responsible for their execution. Unfortunately, this reflects poorly on the leadership of our country.
Sincerely your,
Michael M. Miller
Comment…June 13, 2010

Mr. Eubanks retired. The US forest service remains bias against the development of natural resources. Recreational activities continue as a primary development, which is social and has no positive impact on America’s GDP. Our forests are in dire need of management, which includes clearing under story and harvesting. We are sitting in a fuel rich tinderbox. Misguided environmental whiners, who call themselves “progressives” or “activists” have coward our politicians into dangerous policies regarding the health of the nations forests. Most residents in Sierra County realize the dangers but are powerless to turn-the-tide. Fire!! The question is not, if. The question is, when. The life cycles of our precious forests were blindsided by the narcissism of youth, who now approach senior citizens. Empower today’s youth to turn environmental protection onto a 21st century path.

By
Michael Miller

06/09/2010 6:53PM

To Shareholders and readers:

A leading stockbroker from a major company called last week for an update on Original Sixteen to One. During the conversation he said, “ This $1200 price range should be helping you. Should gold reach $2,000 an ounce that would be even better.” We talked about our company, what was going on and what I expected. Then a thought hit me, “Isn’t this something noteworthy. You said gold at $2,000 an ounce as if it were a realistic possibility. Just a few years ago mainstream professional brokers would never have considered such a possibility.” Times have changed.

The irony is that the professional investment community does not know what to do with gold. They have no historic perspective to rely on. Americans have shunned gold because the dollar is the world’s currency or storage of value. I experienced this conviction during the 1970’s after gold became a free commodity. Gold advocates were called “gold bugs” and in a rather derogatory tone.

To all Original Sixteen to One Mine shareholders, relax with your investment. We own a great world-class gold deposit. We have the permits to operate, the equipment to mine and the talent to succeed. Have patience but feel secure that you are in the gold game.

I hope you can make the annual shareholder meeting on June 26 in Alleghany. I promise you will see a new and fresh side of the operation.

For those who cannot attend and readers who have yet to become shareholders, I’ll write a report of the meeting. Since I have no influence on the spot price of gold, I care not a whit how many dollars it takes to buy an ounce of gold. The $1200 or $2000 figures are fine. So is $850 or $3000. This venerable company celebrates its 100 years of incorporation next year. The spot price of gold during this period has ranged from $20.67 to $1248.

By
bluejay

04/30/2010 1:15PM

cw

That reported purchase works out to be about $0.00007 a share when the shares were trading, roughly, between $1.20 and $1.30 each. Are you sure that wasn't the reported date of the transaction?

In March of this year the shares were as low as $0.003.

If this guy were peeling out of the shares in April he could have made $30 million.

The hype Mike saw was a ploy to suck in investors while this guy took some unbelievable percentage gains in a month, alone.

The high on the stock was $1.75 in April preceded by that $0.003 low from the first half of this year in March.

I checked out their website and they have two properties on the way outer-fringe of current gold producers at Red Lake. I saw no meat in what I read. I just perused a bunch of fancy talk using the "what ifs" and the "inferences."

By
cw3343

04/30/2010 11:25AM

Good Letter...
Perhaps this latest 8-K datedd 4-19-2010 sheds some light on the value of the shares:

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 OR 15(d) of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) April 19, 2010

BIG BEAR MINING CORP.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter

Item 5.01 Changes in Control of Registrant

On April 19, 2010, Steve Rix, the officer and director of Big Bear Mining Corp. (the “Company”), acquired a total of 30,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock from Aaron Hall, the Company’s former officer and director, in a private transaction for approximately $2,000. The funds used for this share purchase were Mr. Rix’s personal funds. Mr. Rix now owns 21.51% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company.

By
Michael Miller

04/29/2010 5:12PM

To the Great Body known as “The Public”: This letter is for your benefit.

Is it negligence? Could be just incompetence? How about fraud? Or is the following just plain ignorance? Whatever caused a confident editor of the “Gold and Energy Advisor” a Mister James DiGeorgia, to mail 1.5 million letters that: 1. Praise, 2. Recommend, 3. Encourage, 4. Brag about himself, his insights, his wisdom and 5. Promote Big Bear Mining. He must be exposed. He should send another 1.5 million letters out that explain his prowess in the gold business. He needs to be accountable. You need to beware of inducements to buy gold.

If a widow or orphan (these are the criteria used in California to validate restrictions on selling stock publicly) is contacted, disclosure must be impeccable. Mister DiGeorgia is promoting the purchase of stock. The big bold heading of his adviser letter is: Buy $5,000 of “BGBR” Stock Today.

Why am I spending time writing about James? He is messing in my industry! His behavior taints an already questionable industry that is, the honesty of the junior gold public company. As retired director Charlie Brown so eloquently said one day, “I’d rather own a company that mines gold than a gold mining company.” Get the difference?

A friend of mine received Mr. DiGeorgia’s letter and asked me to review it. Big Bear Mining has nothing but a promotional web site. If you cannot access financial reports and detailed stock information on a junior’s web site, forget the idea of investing in it. I went to the SEC filings and pulled up its 10K. If grammar school children were shown this 10k and asked about how this company looks for investment, the response would likely be, “Forget it. This one has no value.” How come a man who talks investments on national TV, writes investment books and sells his advice promote a company like BGBR?

Here are just a few items contained in the SEC filing for the year ended December 31, 2009. Incorporated 2005; options only of claims…no ownership; no plans to buy any equipment; no plans to hire employees over the next twelve months; no permits to operate. There is so much more that raises red flags.

Now for some stock info: 138,950,000 shares outstanding held by 39 shareholders. That alone will make most (not all) gold advisers toss this junior in the trash basket. Not Mr. DiGeorgia. He writes that “The stock may already trade at $4+ per share and you may be too late.” There is something called market cap or shares outstanding times share price. I checked yesterday’s share price for BGBR ($1.13). This means that the market cap is $153,261,850. This is a big number especially for a company whose assets total $1,317 cash. BGBR owns no gold properties. All this is reported on the SEC filing, which was filed on March 31,2010.

Need I say more! So, Mr. DiGeorgia, explain your behavior. It is no defense that on April 28, 2010, you pulled your “BUY” recommendation for BGBR. I’m fearful that other advisers will follow this shoddy portrayal of gold explorers, gold miners or gold dreamers as the under appreciated narrow industry struggles for serious investment capital. (They certainly have in the past but so have advisers in real estate, dot-coms and medical technologies.)

Investments have risk; however a junior gold company can be evaluated to identify both risk and reward. It is easy for me after living the second gold rush beginning in 1975. Maybe we are in the beginning phase of the third gold rush. Time will tell. My advice is to use care with a look at gold but take the time to do so. I sold some gold this week because I needed some cash to buy something else. I was a reluctant seller. I traded gold for cash to trade for another valuable asset. Mr. James DiGeorgia, I’m not calling you at your (800) 819-8693 number but will answer your call if you chose.

By
martin newkom

02/01/2010 3:45PM

Ah! Kanaka Creek! My wife's Grt.
Granpa referred to it as Kanaka
Bar in the olden days (early 1850's) when he and his dad mined
"The" creek. Picked up some"Bigre"
nuggets from the bottom and then
went to San Francisco and opened
a meat market, later selling it
and going for some different "gold", WINE, in and about the
area of Healdsburg, Calif.Both
gemtlemen came from France, sailing around the "Horn", 173
days from LeHarve to San Francisco.

By
Michael Miller

01/30/2010 2:07PM

Mr. Don Russell
Mountain Messenger

Assemblyman Jim Nielsen is vice chairman of the California Assembly Budget Committee. He wrote an article entitled, “Hope and hard choices”, published in various newspapers on January 27, 210. Excerpts of his article follow.

Political public servants (appointed and elected) must act with great urgency to bring the budget into balance. It is imprudent to wait for Washington to bail out the state. The long-term solution to this crisis is to remove governmental barriers to economic growth and make California job creation the state’s number one goal. New taxes are never the answer. “While most of the budget focus has been on taxes and spending, the long term answer to our budget plight is reviving the economy.”

Next is his statement that resonates loudly with the Sixteen to One mine. “Stimulating business by creating investment incentives, removing egregious disincentives, like the excessive regulations of the Air Resources and the Water Resources Control Board, educating and training our workforce, all are critical to achieving and stimulating economic recovery and adequate revenue to state and local government.” Yes, yes, yes!

Last week I attended a valuable two-day work seminar on safety in mining and tunneling presented by CAL/OSHA. Mr. Hart, the principal engineer of the Regional Office commented that several years ago he said that when gold ends its bear market slide, get ready to see great interest in the gold mines of California. He asked me what happened and I told him. He then said that when the richest gold mine in the world sits without a production crew, how or why would investors seek out gold in California. Think about that. What does that comment mean to you?

The Sixteen is a great gold mine. History proves this, as does contemporary production. The operation is permitted, therefore avoiding the necessity to spend significant dollars and waste two to five years in illogical paper work. The mine is on private property, not the contentious public lands. Millions of dollars bought a solid infrastructure with local services readily available. Management is experienced. And best of all the mine boasts economically proven yet unmined ore zones.

Joe Namath made his famous, wild and crazy prediction in 1968 that the New York Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts in the Super bowl. They did. Michael Miller makes the prediction today that the Sixteen to One will no longer need to seek outside capital to fund its operation by the next annual shareholder meeting in June.

What can you do? Assemblyman Nielsen is right. The Water Resources Control Board lost its way, probably due to third party special interests, to eliminate mining in California. Those outside forces are wrong. They need to be educated. California must get to work on producing new wealth…like gold. The Sixteen to One does not hurt the environment, never has over its 114-year history. The proof is readily available. One must just open his eyes. Kanaka Creek thrives and is beautiful.

This is the message: California needs productive jobs; get real with governmental agencies; we need your regulation but you must base it with honest enforcement; our young men desperately need to earn a living right now; baby needs new shoes and the truck needs new rubber.

The Sixteen to One mine is “shovel ready”.
Michael M. Miller
January 30, 2010

By
Michael Miller

01/06/2010 11:39AM

Thanks nose.
Vera, Bill’s wife, reminded me yesterday that the Sixteen to One mine was Bill’s first mining job. When his last final was taken at Harvard, Bill and two other boys drove straight out of Massachusetts headed west for California. They took the old Henness Pass ( a pioneer route over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range north of the more well known Donner Pass) from Nevada to Alleghany and camped on the ridge just above the community. In the morning they drove to the mine office and began mining that day. Bill was very excited about getting to work in the mine.

Vera said that Bill had a good life and always loved mining. He chose not to become a gold bug but was always happy when gold was found.

Bill spent many years compiling information about the Alleghany Mining District. His book is very close for submission to a publisher. We all will have a fine treat when his book becomes available.

Other youngsters have told great stories about the Sixteen to One and other mines of Alleghany and their experiences in the 1930’s and 1940’s. The quartz veins, the magnitude of the work and the brilliance of the gold that is peppered throughout the deposit seem to have drilled a permanent impression into their young brains. It takes ones breath away for a moment even years later. I have yet to encounter anyone with actual experience working here that has not had experiences like these. And best of all no one has every suggested that the gold is gone, mined out with none or little left. Quite the contrary!

Quoting from the 1992 Underground Gold Miners of California photo essay the entry for March offers reason for these impressions of high-grade mining:

“This business is not for light weights. The biggest pocket of gold in the Sixteen to One mine was over 89,000 ounces. The area was about the size of a living room.

Don’t call it gold fever.
Don’t call it greed.
Call it a challenge and
A desire to succeed.”

By
Nose 4 Gold

01/05/2010 9:24AM

Mike: Don't forget, Bill Fuller also worked as tramer in the mine. This was often part of your education.

By
Michael Miller

12/31/2009 3:34PM

Please see the posting today under the News category. The photo was taken around 1990.

By
Rick

12/29/2009 7:15PM

Sadly, the institutions of full-belly green politics aren't even on the ballot.

By
bluejay

12/25/2009 3:08PM

My wishes to all the same, Merry Christmas!

The 16-1 operates in a disgraceful State which insists in acting stupid in regards to its responsibilities to care for its residents. By neglecting to embrace its gifts from Mother Nature and putting them into production in creating jobs and much needed revenue, it has chosen to show the world how really inept the State is.

Begging Washington for money to keep its Unemployment Insurance Fund solvent while the State keeps the past glorious days of its gold mining potential in moth balls via history books is as stupid as it gets when not subsidizing the rejuvenation of a potentially large gold mining industry when it could help save the State.

Our legislators have had it too good for too long and now we are all paying the price in wealth destruction. They have been influenced by the real estate lobby to keep California excessively environmentally pristine just to support their commissions of selling more and more while delivering its mining industry back into the Dark Ages.

I don't know how long it will take to get rid of these nitwits in office but hopefully 2010 should deliver a meaningful message to them all from the people that they have failed. These are the same people along with help from appointed financial czars in Washington that created such a massively dangerous housing bubble that we are all now clearly paying for.

A sad forecast by Martin Armstrong states that residential real estate holdings will be the worst investment in the years ahead with the exception of a three year minor rally taking place in prices between 2012 and 2015. After 2015, it's all downhill for 33 year continued beating.

You'll never hear any of this from our representatives because it would mean job losses for them all and besides, it hasn't happened yet.

It's not all bad news for everyone, the Chinese will benefit when we and our children are all forced to sell to them just to survive as the years pass. It wouldn't surprise me if the Chinese show up soon in our mining district with their dollars in hand an attempt to buy up everything for pennies on the dollar.

If anyone thinks the Chinese aren't very interested in gold then they are naive. If you believe they haven't done their homework where gold still remains in past gold producing districts, then think again.

The Chinese are coming. I just hope the State of California doesn't bury us first before we have the time to negotiate with them or, possibly, someone else.

Next year should be exciting for those folks with gold investments. Go Gold!

By
oakrockranch

12/25/2009 12:37PM

Merry Christmas to Michael Miller, his family, staff, volunteers and supporters of this legendary mine. May 2010 bring great success to the 16-to-1.

By
Michael Miller

12/23/2009 1:20PM

To the readers and participants of FORUM:

For the past two years our underground operation has been maintaining the surface, equipment and passageways of the most valuable areas. The surface, equipment and passageways are in good order. It has been a success, except for a rock fall leading to the hoist for the 49 winze. This situation is not significant because there are no plans to use the winze. When the winze becomes necessary to either continue maintenance or development, it will be routine work for the crew to remove the rock fall, support the manway and service the hoist. That work waits for a while.

The men who helped the mine during this period deserve congratulations for their performance. They volunteered to keep it open and safe. It can be said that most people who are familiar with the Sixteen to One as workers, shareholders or interested parties shudder at the possibility that this California icon would once again be left to flood. Support comes unexpectedly at times and in various forms. No matter your interest and support, they help us get up, deal with problems and dream about another pocket of fine high-grade gold to be bagged and tagged and safely secured in the underground safe.

The 2009 year is almost over. I cannot give you specific reasons, but major changes are in store during year 2010. The possibilities excite me. Only one issue from 2009 is daunting…the allegations and action of the powerful California water agency against us. It is disheartening that individuals within this important agency may twist science, technology and politics into a theme to punish instead of to protect California’s resources. The word “technical” originates from the Greek word “techne”, which means “art”. Mr. Aristotle writes that art is about making, and that the question of what one should make is always superior, in point of order and logic (wisdom and common sense I add), to the question of how to make it. This unwanted and undeserved lawsuit filed against the Company and me personally casts a dark and threatening cloud over the Sixteen to One and the future of California. More on how it will hurt California another time.

Am I just hopeful about our state of being a year from now? Yes, and it is also grounded in order, logic, common sense and wisdom. Sir William Watson wrote, “Hope is like the cork to the net, which keeps the soul from sinking in despair; and fear is like the lead to the net, which keeps it from floating in presumption.” Adieu.

Thank you for initiating cataloguing the widely perceived overreach of State agencies (front page Mountain Messenger –November 26, 2009). Most Californian businesses would appreciate this accomplishment. I am the president of California’s oldest gold mining company, which continues to work its mining claims located in the 1800’s. My turn at the helm started in 1977. At one time the Company was the largest non-government employer in your district (Sierra County). Our demise is traceable to three causes: the long bear market in gold, excessive interventions by the federal Mines Safety Health Administration (MSHA) from 1996 to 2002, and illegal, abusive and excessive enforcement demands by State bureaucrats and agencies.

Some things have changed for the better recently. MSHA appears to be returning to its former approach towards safety of. “How can we help?” instead of coming to the mine looking for trouble, punishment and monetary fines. We are hopeful that the current administration in Washington continues this constructive method of keeping the American miner safe. The gold bear market has hibernated and a raging bull has its teeth in the US dollar. So revenue projections are positive. California legislatures and government employees, unfortunately, have failed to get the message of how to improve our economy and the lives of Californians. I wish you luck with your endeavor and offer my help as well.

Your district covers mineral riches and other natural resources in a wide-ranging hinterland. Political folks don’t seem to understand the importance of “back country” to the urban populations. Rural residents, especially the blue-collar workers, are more endangered than most critters on the Endangered Species in California list, which has 289 threatened or endangered plants and animals. As I read the list it seems that the urban population explosion into the backcountry over the last forty years is a major cause of threat or endangerment. The public is looking in the wrong places for solutions. Gold mining in the Sierra Nevada is not a threat because the mines operate sensibly within the demands of the 21st century.

Maintaining a hostile attitude towards mining, forest production and restoration and the obnoxious fear mongering of extracting the earth’s natural minerals have existed far too long. It is time for our leaders to react to the exploitation of fear to an otherwise ignorant urban population. In our business an unwarranted effort against naturally occurring minerals in the water has eliminated most mining in our rich state. Investment capital fled to other countries. Inappropriate regulations and interferences have burdened our company with useless (non beneficial) costs. It is destroying our region, our schools, our economic base and meaningful jobs for our young people. This behavior is destroying our country. Unlike other businesses that are choosing to leave California, a gold miner in California cannot leave his gold mine or take it to another state. The gold miner, whose history has been so beneficial to our culture, societies and spirit, is now an endangered figure. We must work to change this.

An often-overlooked value from natural resource extraction businesses is the fact that our products directly add to the GDP of the United States, increasing wealth benefits to our society. To the political critics of California’s producers of minerals, forest products and food: most producers are keenly aware of their sensitive environments and behave in a responsible manner. This is not the 1960’s when we could not see beyond four electric poles while driving in Los Angeles. The Cayuga River in Cleveland is not burning as it was from pollutants. The waterways were not running with sediment as they did in the 1870’s. Great progress has occurred. Let’s embrace our successes and move on.

Why I write you may not yet be clear. You are in a position to write laws or repeal laws about real business and economic hardships that hurt Californians. I want to help. Please contact me so we can set up a time to go over specific areas that concern rural Californians in your district. Fortunately, the improvement we can make will not harm others. Ignorance is the enemy and always has been.

Sincerely, Michael M. Miller

By
Rick

12/02/2009 4:50PM

Passion, you know!

Let's all chime in here and figure out how to get this message spread.

This has to be one of the unique times in GOLD RUSH history when a real true find is ignored !!! Go figure....

By
Rick

11/30/2009 7:45PM

Mike, our mission is to get this essay of yours seen every where else besides this home site.

There are hundreds of thousands of ongoing blogs in which an assortment and multiples of gold-finding opportunities are discussed.

This one is real. Copy and paste your last entry into them all. Get on it.

By
Michael Miller

11/28/2009 1:46PM

Dear Reader,

Money seems to be scarce. With the trillions presumably released into the market by our government, I wonder where did it go? Who has it? What are the receivers doing with it? Why is money scarce?

I say this because even with all the writing about the future of gold, the impact of debt, the shifting in how others see the dollar, no one is calling to visit this old established gold mine, which continues to operate in a maintenance mode in one of a handful of secure countries. Our properties produced over two million ounces of gold. Geologist calculate that an equal amount or more remains in the ground.

My belief after conversations with people who claim to believe in gold’s value and claim to have money in lackluster storage positions is that the fear of uncertainty has overtaken the ability to calculate risk and reward. Therefore, the market place for taking a chance on gold is quite narrow.

If there ever was a moment in time where the American government and its people should encourage the gold extraction industry in its country, that moment has arrived. Oil people could say the same about their natural resource as well. Sigh, where have all the business adventurers and buccaneers gone?

Someone suggested that we call for a summit meeting in Alleghany. It is a good idea and every person attending can pitch in while we work our company out of the current doldrums. For those of you who have walked in the mine, seen the incredible quartz and gold it produces and understands our holdings, you know the following is true: the best is yet to come from the Sixteen to One.

Your leadership has realized many favorable results recently. With the power of a funding “kitty” approaching one trillion dollars, I seek your financial support on behalf of Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc. The world may think that such a rich place as California has unlimited options for sources of money. Financial leaders may think that a company active in the gold mining industry today has its telephone alive with inquiries for investment. This is not the case and California sorely needs the your help. The example we could establish in California should travel throughout the globe and invigorate billions of monies lying wastefully outside the productive, fundamental pillars of growth and prosperity. Let me explain.

A crisis exists in California, a State that has shined as a beacon of innovation in its politics, economy and social outlook. Sadly, the crisis is so deep rooted that the heretofore lessons California has learned and taught have slipped underground and out of sight. The discovery of gold in 1848 and the subsequent world wide rush to this sparsely inhabited frontier opened the door to average men to prosper by their own hard work and hands. It was not an easy life nor did all the Argonauts secure the wealth they dreamed about. They had a dream, however, and the chance to risk life and security to achieve it. California offered the chance of a better life.

The opportunity to provide the world another chance waits for the necessary economic ingredients to gather again. The missing ingredient is working capital. The global barrier is the current avoidance of risk, taking a chance with ones soul and comforts. The results are the freezing of money, the reduction of expanding wealth via meaningful production, the dissemination of the wealth to all parties (blue collar workers, white collar leaders and multi-collar investors) coupled with fear and greed. This does not make for a happy world. The IMF can make a difference.

The IMF may be the lender of last resort. The United States Department of Agriculture (rural development section) has one billion dollars available in our area to guarantee bank loans. Its stated purpose is to create jobs so money reaches grass roots of society and spreads as the workers buy new shoes for the kids, a yummy dinner at the local restaurant or safe tires for their cars. The key to beating the current malaise is: what is the nature and value of the workers production. Talks with three small banks, two mid sized banks, one credit union and the giant Wells Fargo Bank failed to find a lender even with collateral and guarantees to secure their risk.

Why should the IMF help out a small company in California? Not only will your loan be repaid in full, the results of the use of proceeds will energize the marketplace for private risk capital. The world needs a shift in investment philosophy. My beliefs are grounded in forty-four years of business as an employer, a university degree in social sciences from the University of California and a practitioner of risk/reward. Also I have been an intimate participant in gold mining since 1974. Should you or your designee take an interest, I am prepared to go into specifics about our plans.

Gold is gaining attention as the exchange value of one ounce into US dollars makes it more valuable. Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc is the oldest gold mining company incorporated in the United States (California in 1911). It operates today but is severely handicapped due to its inability to develop new tunnels into unmined areas of its claims. The mines’ hundreds plus history and geology give credence to our expectations of returning to a most profitable operation. California has a two hundred mile long gold deposit that is silent. Its reactivation (with contemporary environmental knowledge) will reenergize this important economy and perhaps awaken America to the reality that domestic production is beneficial to everyone. Gold production adds tangible wealth to the world.

I have been a student of the humanitarian efforts of the IMF and other international organizations. Much of the funding goes to the poorest nations. These organizations need the resources from other nations so they can share working capital with the poorest. California has gold. It is a rich land. Its gold is nature’s gift to the world. It rests under the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. California’s resources will help others throughout the world as the workers and capital join to give them to the people. We can and will be successful in doing just that. The Company will repay its loan with gold bullion recorded at a value eight percent below the spot price.